Plugin Authoring Audit

Real repo examples worth copying, plus a few patterns to treat carefully.

Strong Patterns

Base plugin + thin Plate wrapper

• BaseCommentPlugin.ts
• CommentPlugin.tsx

Why it is good:

• semantic core lives in src/lib
• Plate layer is a thin wrapper
• explicit config type exists because the contract is real

Base plugin + Plate child wiring

• BaseCodeBlockPlugin.ts
• CodeBlockPlugin.tsx

Why it is good:

• base plugin owns semantic rules and transforms
• wrapper only adds Plate child plugins

Slate-only plugin stays Slate-only

• HtmlPlugin.ts

Why it is good:

• no fake React layer
• semantic ownership is obvious

Bundle plugin uses direct Plate composition

• BasicBlocksPlugin.tsx

Why it is good:

• no fake base plugin theater
• the job is composition, so createPlatePlugin is correct

Real React-native Plate plugin

• EventEditorPlugin.ts
• PlaywrightPlugin.ts
• CopilotPlugin.tsx

Why they are good:

• they live in the Plate/React layer for real reasons
• they are not pretending to be Slate-first semantic plugins

React-only prop augmentation via transformProps

• BlockSelectionPlugin.tsx
• NavigationFeedbackPlugin.ts

Why they are good:

• they augment existing rendered nodes instead of replacing semantics
• they keep hook-driven logic in the Plate layer
• they avoid fake wrapper components when the real job is prop injection

Patterns To Treat Carefully

Shared plugin keys should usually come from KEYS

• plate-keys.ts

Why it matters:

• most shipped package/plugin code already leans on KEYS
• raw string keys drift across base plugins, wrappers, and tests
• hardcoded literals are usually fine only for tiny internal plugins or local test fixtures

Manual SlateEditor callback annotations

• BaseTextAlignPlugin.ts

Why to be careful:

• it works
• it is older style
• it teaches a worse habit than letting plugin context inference do the work

Do not cargo-cult this unless inference genuinely fails and a better typed shape is not available.

Editor-locked helper extraction

• BaseAIPlugin.ts

Why to be careful:

• extracting getAITransforms(editor: SlateEditor) is workable
• it also encourages editor-threading patterns that the newer callback context APIs often make unnecessary

Prefer context-local helpers or better generic shapes before copying this.